UNDEHSTANDliNG OF THE TIMES: 



A SERMON 



IN RELATION TO- THE RECENT RIOT, 



PREACHED BY 



REV. HUGH SMITH CARPENTER 



POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, 



BROOKLYN, 



Sunday Evening, July 16, 1871. 



BROOKLYN: 

EAGLE PRINT, 34 AND 36 FULTON STREET. 
1871. 



a 



UNDERSTA^^DI^Tt of the TIMES: 

A SEEMON 

IN RELATION TO THE RECENT RIOT 



PREACHED BY 



REV. HUGH SMITH CARPENTER 



p 



OLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, 



BROOKLYN, 



Sunday Evening, July 16, 1871. 



BROOKLYN: 

1871. 






Bkooklyn, July 17, 1871. 
Dear Sir : 

We beg to inquire if you will allow your discourse of last eveniutj; 
to be published. We request it in the belief that, in the i^resent state 
of public opinion, its circulation woidd be u.sef al. 

Resijectfully yours, 

JOS. NEILSON, 
GEO. G. REYNOLDS, 
THOS. E. PEARSALL, 
L. B. WYMAN, 
HENRY HAGNER. 
To Rev. Hugh Smith Cakpenter. 



,( %1 V) Brookltn, July 17, 1871. 

Gentlemen : ( ^ 

The sermon preached last night, which you desire to print, is 
at your service. 

Veiy truly yours, 

HUGH SMITH CARPENTER. 

To Hon. Jos. Neilson and others. 



.Vo 



SERMON. 



"Men that ha:l undersbanding of the times, to kuow what Israel 
ought to do. " — 1 CiriioNiCLES, xii. 33, 

These were men of the tribe of Issacliar. It 
may lie difficult to assign a reason for their superior 
intelligence. No advantages of education, nor facilities 
of news, nor postal privileges gave them pre-eminence. 
There were no newspapers pubhshed in those days, and 
the oracles of God were communicated, impartially, to 
all. It appears, hoAvever, that the children of Issachar 
had observed events, with candid and considerate scru- 
tiny. They looked further, and they thought more 
profoundly. 

Possibl}", other tribes had as many individuals among 
them versed in state affairs, but such were not selected 
to represent them; wdiereas, in Issachar, while indiscreet 
and ignorant persons may have been quite as numerous, 
the delegation Avhicli came forward to the service of the 
king was a delegation of commanding mind, and of 
enlarged experience. The tribe of Issachar, being 
thus represented, acquired its repute. The credit of its 
deputation was predominant, in such measure, that, it 
is said, " and all their brethren were at their command- 
ment;" that is to say, not in any formal or official 
assumption, but by a reverent trust, that looked up to 



the representative men of Issacliav, as " men that had 
understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought 
to do." 

This kind of understanding has its own vahie in any 
era of the workl. 

Two reflections are awakened : 

1. Knowledge of duty, includes intelligence of the 
times. 

2. Intelligence of the times, includes spiritual percep- 
tion of their bearing, one upon the other, and upon the 
destiny of the human race. 

1. The phrase " the times," may describe the age at 
large in some specific period of history, or the condition 
of affairs investing us, as when we say the times are 
hard, or dull ; the times are vehement, or quiet. 

Every epoch is marked by its opportunities and liabili- 
ties, alike in public interest and personal aftairs. 

And it is quite as impossible that a man should be 
awake to his duty, without considering these conditions, 
as that he should l)e alive to his business interests, 
without regard to the state of the market or exchange. 

A citizen can no more afford to be ignorant of the 
age in which his lot is cast, than a traveler, of the cli- 
mate in which he sojourns. 

A wise citizen will no more remain indifferent to the 
peculiarities of the period, than a prudent householder 
to the peculiarities of the house in which he dwells. He 
will weigh them in the two- fold relationship in which 
they stand to his work, — as the Bible puts it, — his 
"day," that is, his immediate sphere of responsible 
activity, — and his " generation," that is, his v.ider obli- 
gations, to those who went before him, and to those 
who shall come after him. 

Pei'sonally, it will behoove you to pa}' quite as much 
heed to the quality of newspaper placed upon your stoop, 
as to the quality of meat brought by your butcher, and 



to sc;m more keenly the platitudes and sopliistries ^Yith 
which the editor dilutes his articles, than the watery 
illusions Avliich the milkman puts into his "cries" and 
cans. 

Publicly, there is an obligation on us all, to know the 
world in which we live, — the age hi which we iind the 
world, 

8ueh an obligation, devolved primarily upon individu- 
als, is enforced upon comnmnities. In society and the 
Church, and especially under a goverinnent like our own, 
no man, who fails of his puldic principles, can mature 
his private character. Alike Christianity in its re- 
quirements, and Humanity in its prospects, will call for 
men of Issachar, who have understanding of the times, 
to know what Israel ought to do. 

Now there are two ways, in either of which this 
knowledge may be forfeited. The one, by insensibility 
to passing events; the other, by vehemence and preju- 
dice under their spells. 

The Christianity that fails to interpret issues of the 
times, and local affairs, declines to translate the Scrip- 
tures into the vernacular. 

A Christian community has no moi-e right, it is true, 
to attach itself to a particular party, than to a par- 
ticular broker, or business ; nor to trade in politics, than 
to trade in stocks. For the parties are simply the 
stock-brokers of the times. But every Christian insti- 
tution must affect the trade political, as well as the 
trade commercial. Jesus Christ did not invest with 
the money-changers, nor speculate in doves. But he 
made himself felt upon 'Change. 

2. Eight interpretation of the times, however, recpiires 
a spiritual discernment, which, taking into account 
their bearings upon one another, shall estimate their 
convergence to a consummation. 

If God mean any thing in human histor}', no one 



6 

can translate human history but by the hght of God. 
Unless it be true that there is no God, an irreligious 
y'levi of history, is an absurdity. If it be that there is 
no God, then any science of history is at once absurd 
and impossible. 

Christianit}', as a science, exhibits the affairs of man- 
Ivind, in their bearings on tlie coming kingdom of 
heaven. As you describe a land, by the boundary lines 
with which it touches other lands, so spiritual insight 
])0unds the events of time, as they touch the confines of 
the eternities. There is a spiritual geography, or 
geometry. I^one the less is there a genuine spiritual 
astronomy, which studies the issues upon earth by the 
planetary measures of celestial purposes, and runs into 
no wild guess-work of a superstitious astrology. In 
these perceptions, the studious mind will be at once 
exalted and composed. 

There are few enough men, who can pass through a 
period of public crisis without being impaired in tone, 
and perverted in vision. There are few substances that 
can endure extremes of heat and cold without being 
warped. A body that can pass through the fire with- 
out being shrunken, and through the fi'ost without 
l)eing riven, is rare. The crackling sound of many 
lives, in crisis, mistaken for a forcefulness, is likely to 
be nothing else than the lesion going on in the fiber. 

In civil affairs, this is the difference between the 
politician and the Christian statesman. Statesman- 
ship becomes calmer, broader, in the exigency, — more 
capacious, more considerate. Mere politics become 
sharper and more subtle, fiercer and feebler, more cun- 
ning and more credulous, .more clamorous, and more 
contracted. The partisan has a shrewdness of the times, 
to calculate what advantages Issachar caii get. The 
patriot has understanding of the times, to knoAV what 
Israel ought to do. Christianity uplifts us to the sum- 



niits of chronology, to see tlieni in their outstretched 
ranges, and from their peaks to view the universe of 
God, and God's sunrise on his universe. 

The restoration of the human race, at large, is now 
in process. If you prefer to put it so, the development 
and formation of a human race. Overlooking inter- 
ruptions, and apparent frustrations whatsoever, we can 
make out an access of humanity to its Creator, in 
perfect parallelism with its enkindling consciousness of 
its own rights, and its growing intelligence of its own 
nature. Mankind, coming to their senses, come to 
God. 

The equilibrium of society, to^^'ard which liistory, 
in all its tossings, rocks itself to rest, must he found in 
the perfect equipoise, Ijetween liberty and order. Liberty 
has often been resolved upon, in default of order. Or- 
der has usually been determined upon, in defeat of 
liberty. When we arrive at that point in which the 
harmony betvfcen these is experienced, and the sym- 
metry between them is established, we reach the 
maturity of history, and not the safety only, but as well, 
the sanity, of the human race. The enlightened thinker 
sees the ripeness of the time of times approaching 
amid these acrid fermentations of the times unripe. 

The kingdom of heaven is at hand. That is the 
primal fact. That is the iinal flict. God shall reign. 
Man shah be free. And therefore, in every claim of the 
events that transpire, in every portent of perplexity, 
amid the theories of government, the intricacies of 
^iffixirs, and the passions of the moment, in deliberate 
platforms of policy, or in vehement emergency of unfore- 
seen and unfathomable issue, in station and rota- 
tion, in season and out of season, in Church and in 
State, in consultation or in action, in council or in 
suffrage, under clear skies or clouds, in storm and in 
calm, he has one errand to pursue, to serve his God, 



8 

and oue prospect to entertain, to ^vatcli the kingdoms of 
tliis world become the kingdoms of om- Lord and of his 
Christ, placing himself among the men of Issachar, 
"which were men that had understanding of the times, 
to know what Israel ought to do." 

The events which have startled this community, 
throughout the last few days, may be treated as per- 
manent or transient in their bearings, according to the 
light in which you look at them. They derive their 
chief moment, neither from the number of lives lost, 
nor from the spectacle of disgraceful disorder which 
they exhibited. The main matter of concern, in regard 
to them, is the underlying question which they in- 
volve. 

You are all aware that the matter of immediate issue 
on the 12th of July, was the bare right of procession, 
the simple freedom of festive celebration. AVheu this 
right w\as threatened, the liopular heart throbbed with 
a sense of outrage, and the popular cheek Avaxed pale 
and red by turns. For the right of festal celebration, 
is simply the right of public thanksgiving. 

Free song is a style of free speech. Free step, is 
comprehended in free agency. A free banner, with its 
devices and mottoes, is unquestionably no more invid- 
ious, than a free newspaper, with its watchwords, and 
double-leaded headings. 

Men felt, thus, that whatever could interfere with 
the one, would interfere vnth the other. If oue must 
l)e maintained, the other must he sustained. The light 
of petition, itself, so often vaunted, is no more sacred, 
than the right of acknowledgment. 

Without regard, therefore, to the merits of the con- 
troversy as between clan and clan, or class and class ; 
without regard even to any distinction between the 
habits of this country and the prejudices of another, 



9 

between Araericiui citizeiisliii), in its wonted privileges, 
and the insolent dietation of alien gronps ; without 
regard to any seeondaiy matters, — so long as nothing 
was proposed injurious or inimical to the institutions 
of the State itself, there could be no treason, and 
there need be no restriction, of any orderly procession 
or parade. 

Xo ^Vmerican city that practices the playing of the 
"Star-Spangled Banner," could afford, in view of any 
current French revolution, to muzzle every minstrelsy 
that played the "Marseillaise," because there might be 
Frenchmen that would not abide it. 

No decretal against the illumination for the Pope's 
Jubilee ; no veto of a Fenian assembly, — (had such an 
interdict suggested itself to mayors or mentors), would 
have been more despotic, than the ban i^ronounced 
against the fi'esli Orange blossoms of Ireland's Protest- 
ant marriage with Great Britain. 

The I'ecent celebration of the German successes, was 
so much more exciting, as the events which it com- 
memorated were so much more conspicuous and 
contiguous. I»J'evertlieless, that procession marched 
through our streets before the agony of France had 
been either bound up or mollified with ointment. 
British residents could be more directly affronted b}^ 
the fourth day of July, than most peremptory Far- 
downers or Coi'konians, by the twelfth. Yet, who ever 
heard of their indignation, as menacing the peace ot 
the city on such an anniversary ? If, however, as 
some attempted with curious lack of logic to allege, 
the contest on the banks of the Boyne was to be re- 
garded as too trivia], or obscure, to warrant any civic 
exertion to protect any memorial parade in its honor, 
by so much the more was it too insignificant to pay 
the penalty of public distraction ; and, if the numerical 
inferiority of the projected cavalcade were unworthy 



'?»<- 



10 

that the State should be disturbed for its protection, 
then why was it worthy to suifer persecution to the 
<listurbauce of the State ? 

All classes, without distinction of party, felt the jus- 
tice of this position, and hence the unanimity of all 
classes was striking. 

Deeper still, however, has been the displeasure of 
society at the reply with which such a complaint has 
been met. That reply has pleaded simply this, not 
that thei'e could be any reasonable provocation of a 
riot, but, that the mob would be so unprovoked, and 
lost to reason. 

Because the riot would relate to such effete bordei' 
frays, and the resuscitation of antique feuds, involving 
no question of present policy or party, it would be 
timely to recede before the riot, and concede to the 
feud. 

.If one man be about to roll his paltry keg of nails into 
the street, and another persist, for that reason, to hurl 
a keg of nitro-glycerine against it, wli}', what is a pitiful 
keg of nails weighed against the peace and order of 
society ? It is better to forego the privilege. Be good 
enough to roll no nails, or else take the consequences 
of a nitro-glycerine explosion. You, to be sure, have 
the right. But if the other insist upon such retaliation, 
stand back from all meddling mth nails, and escape all 
hazard of convulsion. 

Should a group of scoffers be collected at these doors 
to-night, and cry out that they would tolerate no more 
religious notions nor blathering heresies, the disorder 
would be unwarrantable on their part, but the " permis- 
sible trespass " of these services, on your part, would be 
no longer permissible, because no longer safe. 

And if, perchance, to-morrow, a stout, youthful gang 
assemble its troop of saunterers on yonder street cor- 
ner, with a Yiew to waj'lay and maul, boys of less size, 



11 

because these might liappen to wear a toggery, or play 
a game, distasteful to these little louugers, autl allo^y 
your suiall sou the alternative, on the one hand, to 
give up his badge, or his ball, or his luncheon-box, or, 
upon the other, to be chased at the top of his speed, 
and if caught, cuffed, — why, so be it ; there is only a 
top, or a toy, or a trifling tart or two, at stake, easily 
foregone. Let it go ; why should the profound peace 
of the city be disturbed ! In point of fact, some parents 
present will aver that there are no mobs so arbitrary, 
imreasonable, and exacting, as the Celtic boy-mobs on 
the corners of these cultured streets, with their flying 
artillery poised in their hands. 

I^ow this species of reasoning maddened and fright- 
ened every thoughtful citizen. It is difhcult to recover 
from the indignation which has flushed the city's coun- 
tenance at such a line of thought, no matter how 
honestly tliat line of thought may liave been enter- 
tained. 

And I, for one, see no reason to inveigh too freely 
against the integrity of authorities, either superior, or 
subaltern. If any of them seemed to be timorous 
or time-serving, they have all subsequently shown 
themselves to be ser^dceable and staunch ; nor, to my 
mind, does it appear fliir, to impute any other impulse 
to their hesitation, than that precautious policy, bred 
by all political maneuvering, which subordinates the 
ultimate to the immediate, the ideal to the local, and 
energy to tact. They merged clear theory in a practice 
clouded and confused, in order, at the least cost of 
party, place, and power, to screen the city from a 
faction, from which the city should rather be forever 
saved, and to restrain an immanageable slum-scum, 
and ribald rabble, which, instead of being restrained, 
required first of all to be exorcised, if not expunged. 
The Church of Christ can have no sympath}- with 



12 

bitter diatribes upon the powers tliat be, because of any 
mistakes on their part. Depend upon it, it is the 
cheapest thing to speak evil of dignities; — a tiling 
neither noble, nor wise, neither godly, nor manly. 

It will be impossible to put men, masses, or mobs, 
" in mind to be subject to magistrates," through the 
mediiun of papers or of paragraphs which abuse magis- 
trates as they list, and degrade them when they can, 
without impeaching them before the courts. Eailing 
is nowhere reform ; — at least, reviling is never religion. 

Honestly, however, as this policy may have been 
entertained, it was none the less repulsive to the sense 
of the people. 

Public sentiment discerned, at once, what officialism 
in its sober second thought could not dispute, that to 
keep the peace by the sacrifice of liberty, was forever 
after to ensnare both liberty and peace ; and that to 
preserve order by any truculence to disorder, would 
be to assuage pain by connnitting suicide. All men 
could see, instinctively, that if the rights involved were 
minor rights, the outrage plotted would be the more 
causeless outrage, and its impunity the more wanton 
shame. 

Thus far, there has been something as refreshing as 
redeeming, in the unison of New York emotion. It 
touches citizens to mingled tears and smiles of mutual 
congratulation, to see, that not for the first time now, 
but now, once again, all partisanships, bigotries, and 
place-bickerings, have been proved to be as naught, in 
comparison with that common sense of jnstice and 
that magnanimity of right which hold us as one homo- 
geneous people. 

The State of New York can well afford to give God 
thanks, that, in days like these, her Governor has 
shown himself to be an honest citizen, and a masterful 
and faithful man. 



13 

There remains, however, a far deeper iiieainui;- in the 
excitement wliicli lias jnst passed over us, and a more 
fundamental lesson of the hour. To this let me en- 
treat your calm attention. 

All that has heretofore been presented, has permit- 
ted the assumption, that the parade of a band of 
Orangemen had its claim, and its interest, as a merely 
momentary pageant ; that, as an Irish exhibition, it 
could have for us no significance, and that any hostility 
to it, was a matter of rivalry between factions of the 
Old Country, calling upon us to do no more than vin- 
dicate for the votaries of William, Prince of Orange, 
equal rights with the worshipers of St. Patrick, or the 
admirers of James II. 

In all this, however, there has been an utter over- 
sight of another principle at stake. 

]^o obscure battle on the banks of the Boyne, could, 
by any commemoration of it whatever, or, for its own 
sake, have aroused the bitterness which this reminis- 
cence has elicited ; nor would the issue have been so 
momentous as it is, in any such aspect of the case. 
There is a deeper crisis, and one more imminent, op- 
pressing us, of which this is but an ebullition. 

James II. was a crafty despot, the very embodiment 
of despotic craft, whose philosophy it w^as, that cun- 
ning is power, and that cruelty is strength. His design 
was to employ Ireland as an instrument to reconquer 
the allegiance of England. That allegiance he had 
forfeited by his treachery to the Church of England, 
and his fraud upon her liberties. He meant to use the 
Irish people, in their anarchy, as a tool to undermine 
those liberties, and demoralize that Church. He had 
no love for Ireland itself. His scheme, as Duke of 
York, was precisely such as they now^ practice, who 
would anoint as Duke of ^ew York, his wandering, 
haunting ghost. 



14 

It was to subsidize a Celtic riot b}' the bribery of 
Irish placeholders ; superseding or suppressing every 
honest Irishman who remained true to the Eeforma- 
tion, — loyal to the people of Great Britain. 

Poor persecuted beauty, the Green Isle ! so long 
fated to be the mere head-quarters of contending English 
forces ; the mere stepping-stone of British tyranny, oi- of 
English wealth; the mere out-house of Eomish 
palaces ; — it could not be so forever. 

But to hold it so, Avas all that King James and his 
cavaliers ever pi-oposed. Tyrconnell tried it. Kirke 
demanded it. A riot in Ireland, would be a victory in 
England. A footstool in Ireland, would be a throne in 
England. It would be a le^er against obdurate Scot- 
land, 

The siege of Londonderry had shown, not in vain, 
how nobly the stout Irish heart could fling itself as a 
breastwork in defense of liberty, even in England. 
Lundy, not inayoi", but nuiin magistrate of Derry, had 
counseled the surrender of the town, to save the effusion 
of blood. He argued with his subordinates that it was 
impossible to protect the city. And so it did appear to 
be. The poor old walls, gTass-grown, were everywhere 
commanded by surrounding eminences, and utterly- 
untenable. The forces were few. The provisions 
were scant. The defenses were weak. Governor 
Lundy put himself in communication with the enemy, 
and privately promised a speedy surrender. When 
the popular outburst refused to tolerate that craven 
thought, he hid himself in an inner chamber ; after- 
wards he let himself down over the wall. The people 
rallied. The women and children, and even the poor 
ministers, did their full share. The citizens were con- 
tented to live on salted hides, and dogs fattened by 
the blood of those slain ; and " the rats, that came to 
eat the dead, were greedily devoured b}' the living." 



15 

A whelp's paw cost five shillings and sixpence. The 
siege lasted for a hundred and live days. All classes 
endured without a murmur. Because they thus en- 
dured, relief came to them, and release. Late relief, 
and last release to them, and through them ; else. 
Constitutional liberty, murdered in Ireland, must have 
died in England, and in no America could have ever 
come to life. 

The siege of Deny was God's word to Ireland !)>■ 
Isaiah the prophet : " But yet in it shall be a tenth, 
and it shall return, and shall be eaten ; as a teil-tree, 
and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they 
cast their leaves ; so the holy seed shall be the sub- 
stance thereof." 

The battle of the Boyue, and its accessories, are 
significant, chiefly as closing the contest already decid- 
ed. James and his myrmidons fled at that solid tramp 
of the Saxon troop, as the mob of yesterday fled along 
the Eighth avenue of New York. They sped to France, 
where, for the most part, they belonged. The tender 
solicitude of Princess Mary, evinced in her correspond- 
ence with Prince William of Orange, her royal husband, 
that her royal father. King James, in spite of all his 
cruelty, should take no hurt, is a fair symbol of the 
tenderness and magnanimity with which a victorious 
Protestantism has always treated vanquished Eomau- 
ism, and always would, and always should. 

Wflliam, Prince of Orange, was, however, as nuich 
the deliverer of Ireland as of England, of Scotland as 
of Ireland, of Great Britain as of Holland, and in them, 
each and all, of ximerica. 

And of such a career, there could be no incident 
whatever, there could be no standpoint in such an 
era, which was not a step in the emancipation of our 
ancestry, a clause inclusive in our birthright of ci\il 
and religious rights. 



16 

Orangemen, Eibboumeii, anil men whosoever, may 
look to their clans and their campaigns. But the bat- 
tle of the Boyne was a struggle of liberty with intoler- 
ance, and of Irish liberty with British persecution, and 
of British liberty with French aggression and Romish 
aggravation, such as all republicanism in Ireland 
since essays to emulate, and none more than the mis- 
guided masses who deprecated it imder spurious 
instruction and incitement, during the past week; a 
wrestle of liberty with bigotry and brute force, in which 
neither Orangemen nor Eibbonmen, nor men whoso- 
ever, have more stake than we ourselves. 

It Avas more than partisan attempt, moi'e than local 
contest, Avhich was settled by tlie " No Sun-ender " 
garrison, upon the "]^o Surrender" ground, where 
the Boyne flows softly between its sloping and mead- 
owy banks. 

For with James, as a conqueror on that battle-field, 
English history would have been thrown back, like a 
steed on his haunches, and American civilization would 
never have gone forward. 

It is wholly a superficial view, taken by many news- 
paper critics of the hour, that to forbid such a celebra- 
tion, was simply to refuse the whim and fantasy of a 
few ostentatious Irishmen. There is no such animus 
in the opposition. It belongs to a determinate and 
comprehensive policy. It is the spirit of bigotry, 
bloodthirsty for the extirpation or repi-ession of that 
order and liberty, one and indivisil)le, which has result- 
ed fi'om the long and serial combat with despotism. 

This is no question of sect or creed. The Eoman 
Catholic religion is a good religion for Eoman Catholics. 
It is far better to be a good Papist than a bad Protest- 
ant. The struggle is not for the Eeformation. To a cer- 
tain extent that struggle i)roceeds within the Eomish 



17 

Church, as well as without it. We, ourselves, are ouly 
Eeformed, or Protestant Catholics. And the protest is 
not silenced there — the Eeformation is in progress. 
The priesthood is not behind the people, but in advance 
of them. The Pope himself is better than his Pope- 
dom. There is a check, feebly pressed, and feebly felt, 
nevertheless a cheek, by whatever of religion lingers. 
It may be a tangled breeching. It may be a broken 
brake; not only broken, but decayed. But there it is. 

In the ^ew Yoi'k riot of 1863, in the French rage, 
falsely called "Communism," properly termed "Demon- 
ism," pure and simple, and in the deliberate frenzy of 
the last fe^v days, the cassock and the cowl did what 
they could to rally the better sense of their senseless 
superstitious flocks, — flocks maddened, not so much by 
mummery as by ruminery, not more by base bigotry 
than by bad whisky. It would be illogical and unchiv- 
alrous to enter into any denunciation of the Catholic 
Church or priesthood. 

It is a question, not of churches, but of civihzations. 
There are no nobler people than are to be found among 
the Irish. But as found here, the Celtic race in mass 
is a mob. It never lias been any thing else, and never 
Avill be, till it is broken, as a colt is made a horse. It is 
found here, as a tough knot in timber, an insoluble and 
crude fragment in our composition. And here, we 
have political prizes, and party schemes and schisms, 
whose appeal, of necessity, is to the baser sort, as that 
of James II. was to a Milesian temperament and 
a Milesian multitude. 

This is a critical condition. The last stand of super- 
stition and intolerance is made on this coast. Here is 
the valley of Jehosaphat, the valley of Decision. No 
longer is there German Eomanism, to sustain priest- 
craft, as wiien the Emperor betrayed Huss by his 
tranquil, treacherous, safe-conduct. ISTo longer Spanish 

2 



18 

ferocity to enforce it, as when the Dnke of Alva 
liounded on his legions, and Philip II. studied out his 
devilish intrigues. Ko longer hloodj^ Mary on the 
throne of England. ISTo longer French Eonianism to 
threaten to-day and truckle to-morrow. N^o longer 
Bonapartism, with its remorseless traditions of a Latin 
race. No longer Eoman Eomanism, nor Italian glove 
of velvet on a hand of iron, since there, where Borgia 
murdered, and the Vatican used to thunder, men meet 
to worship God in peace ; since there, the Papal crown 
is but a nightcap on a very shaky slumbrous old man's 
head ; the senile venerableness nodding on the seven 
liills, before the world, as an old woman on her easy 
chair, in company. 

It is almost over now, in sony Italy, as in sad 
France. It matters more that Hyacinthe and Dohinger, 
and such like, can stay within the Church, than it 
would matter if they should be driven out of it. 

No more an Anglican Eomanism, of any account, — 
the new crop of blooming ritual being so woody, pulp- 
less, and going rapidly to seed. 

No more Eomanism in Ireland, for it can not find 
enough to feed upon to nourish it, and monk and 
monastery, like pullet or like pig, are insipid and un- 
savory when ill fed — nothing, if not fat. 

No more, but an Irish Eomanism out of Ireland ; 
in very bull and blunder, an Ireland, where there is no 
Ireland at all. 

No more, but an Irish Eomanism in America. And 
that, in turn, must presently be no more. 

Mistake me not. American Catholicism, with all 
liberties and immunities to Christians of Catholic Mth, 
with fall scope to enjoy, to modify, to minister that 
faith — may there always be. Any bitterness against 
that, is just as vile a bigotry as that which would embit- 
ter it. But here we touch at once the point of duty 



19 

iind of destiny. American CatJioUcism, is a species of re- 
ligiou that may draw the breath of freedom within these 
forests, and upon these chfifs. Against Bomanism in 
America, the Genius of the Continent pleads and frowns. 

This large band of ruthless, heartless, and imbruted 
Celts, must no longer be bought by party politics, nor, 
as an organic nucleus, a separate nationality, kept in 
untamed bands, like tribes of Indians, nor encouraged 
to group themselves round about our institutions, in 
clan, or clique, the body-guard gangs of ambitious 
demagogues, looking as if they were chain-gangs, 
waiting for the galleys. 

ISTaturalization, — whether elevated in its standard of 
time, or of test, I care not, — must be enhanced in the 
standard of solemn requisition. It is an oath of alle- 
giance to the United States, which excludes allegiance, 
not only to any foreign power, but to any foreign pre- 
judice. There is no reason why any foreigner should 
be proliibited from becoming a citizen. Tliere is every 
reason, why no one, becoming a citizen, should be 
allowed to remain a foreigner. 

If any Irishman chooses to become a native, (pardon 
his paradox again), let him cease to be an Irishman. 
The Jews enrolled their proselytes by circumcision ; we 
must insist upon the embarrassments of civihzation^ 

This ruling must begin in the work of the household, 
and proceed to the work of the State. Break up the 
social clannishness, and employ not one race alone 
in one service. Let there be no monopoly of kitchens, 
pantries, stables, and porterages, given to a race which 
is also a class, a class which is also a race. Let there 
be no cousins, and their cozening conspiracies. Do a 
little more of your own woik, and be a little more 
independent of the hindrances called helps, of the 
masters and mistresses called servants ; and of the 
outlaws called domestics. 



20 

But go up liiglier. Elect men to office wlio can not 
be induced to trim to any clan or clique, to curry with 
any coterie, or minister to any faction ; make office- 
holding a matter, not of swift rotation, and feverish 
ambition, and thereby of fell temptation, but of dura- 
tion, and respectability ; preserve the right of popular 
suffi'age by giving the people a veto on the measm^s, 
and a ready right of impeachment, and removal, upon 
occasion, — without summoning them to needless elec- 
tions every year ; without expending so much on the 
machinery of the ballot-box. 

Shut up the dens, and shut off the corner caverns ; 
interdict the reckless sale of poisonous drinks. Give to 
womanhood the right of suffi'age ; T kuoAv not but to 
give it next to childhood ; tlicy may as well vote in an 
orderlij crowd, as he shot in a disorderly riot. 

Make the laws of such fiber, and the Constitution of 
the State of such sound timber and steel, that code- 
tinkers need not touch it, and make both so enduring, 
that good men can enjoj'' them while they live, and evil 
men shall have to let them alone, until they die. 

Such are some of the i^oints of present practical 
suggestion, the mere details of local duty, and of indi- 
vidual citizenship. 

But now bend }'our gaze forward. Here, we fi'ont 
upon an outlook of destiny. Time consecrates its 
minor incidents as radical issues. It concentrates them 
in grand conclusion. Taken singly, " the times " are as 
meaningless as they are momentary. By their con- 
currence, the momentary becomes momentous, as well 
in fate, as in philology. Which in ^^lis times ^^ he 
shall show, who is the Blessed and only Potentate — the 
King of kings, and Lord of lords, irho only liatli im- 
mortality ! Here the mazes open into vistas, the 
mysteries meet and melt in their Apocalypse. 



21 

Should there l)e no system of the Divine ways 
with nieu, but only fitful exertions of his power, or 
only self-wrought and unforeseen developments fronr 
within the human race itself, then, catastrophes of 
event can be no more than the capricious caperings of 
a frivolous and fickle fortune. 

An impulse of the growth within, doubtless develops 
the bounds and w\ayward leaps, even of a young stag 
or goat. But that would be a curious school which 
should undertake to predicate a plan of his proceedings, 
or establish a philosophy of deer-springs and goat- 
leaps. ]N"evertheless, that is what is put before us, in 
certain quarters, as the philosophy of history. It is 
the study of zig-zags, the calculation of curvettiugs 

Monuments of the past, if they stand apart, are like 
Greenw^ood monuments; however much of promise and 
performance they may cover, they disclose nothing, 
and only stand to grieve, bearing inscriptions, "No 
more, — Never more." 

In that case, heroisms, victories, establishments, — 
these all stand out, as you have seen milestones standing 
out on a deserted highway. They pointed truthfully, — 
but now, it is no matter whither they point, nor where 
they stand, for that highway is a thoroughfare no longer. 

Ah ! ye philosophers of history, the mound monu- 
ments, are not building blocks. Statues of human 
greatness, and hoary rocks inscribed with the historic 
tragedy, are not guide-posts of any avenue — where 
no turnpike is trodden, and no avenue is open. 

Scenes of renoAvn he listless and lifeless, in themselves. 
The cattle had just been bro wising on the plains of 
Concord, and the commons of Lexington, when all at 
once the Eevolution bubbled and burst to create this 
nation, upon these very fields. 

And now, children go berrying, plucking wild flow- 
ers, and gaily laughing, upon slopes yet to quake and 



22 

quiver ^yith the destinies of raees, and the issues of the 
age. 

'No event of time — detached and isolated — can ha^'e 
value or vitahty. 

But, so soon as we take into view tlie outline and 
contour of history, in a Divine arrangement, not only 
do the grander epochs glow with promise, but incidents 
which seemed minute, events which had been reckoned 
trivial, take mighty import, and rank themselves in 
range, as words make sentences, as stones make solid, 
graceful walls, as men, in columns, make an army. 

Looked at thus, along its lines, what sequel does the 
history of our race unfold before this nation and 
before mankind I There is no room for dejection. 
There is scarcely ground for misgiving. 

American life is an outgrowth of the ages. It is 
not, as it is sometimes represented to be, another at- 
tempt at a Eepublic, a beginning over again, in imita- 
tion of Sparta or of Eome. It is the resultant of Time's 
brooding forces, and the child of God's providential 
purposes. Civil liberty has been its fatherhood. Reli- 
gious liberty has been its motherhood. It is not the 
construction of a single generation. It is the growth of 
the ages, the sequence of the serial contests, the settle- 
ment of the parleying and embattled controversy 
between barbarism and Christianity, between tyranny 
and liberty, between might and right, between God and 
Satan. It is not finished. Like military bands, the 
passing times are playing their " Not leady yet." 

The result, thus ftir, is inadequate, — imperfect. The 
result, thus flir, is nevertheless inclusive and progress- 
ive. Who is there so morose as to dream, that after 
the experience of mankind, and the ways of God, yon- 
der valley of the Mississippi shall ever be surmounted 
by the towers of an Inquisition I " God is over all, 
blessed forever !" Who is he, so morbid, as to dread 



23 

lest the phantom of tyranny shall come back, at last, 
like the ghost of some executed pirate, to reclaim and 
replevin its piratical prizes, or that the wraith of super- 
stition shall snatch up full-grown humanity, at last, to 
carry it away ? The age of hobgoblins expires. 

We approach "the times of the restitution of all 
things." As to their final stages, there may be a dif- 
ference in our expectations, which is mainly a dramatic 
(hflference. A^^iether, by noiseless and unwavering 
advance, the Gospel shall mn its conciliatory way to 
the very end — city after city kindling, and land on 
land sparkling, in the peaceful sway, — as peak after 
peak of mountain ridge is burnished in the sunrise, 
until the intervales low lying, are steeped in the glory ; 
or, whetlier, as some of us interpret it, in every land a 
light, once kindled, will have fierce conflict with envir- 
oning darkness that would quench it, and this Gospel, 
whenever it shall have gained a foothold, shall yet 
<mce more be confi^onted on its path by bitterness of 
l)igotry, blundering to brute force, and base conspiracy, 
so that the shock and storm shall be such as earth never 
knew before, " short, sharp, and decisive," — and God, 
by tlie tokens of his overwhelming power, take, occupy 
and hold the world, forever more. 

But we differ not as to the actual restitution of all 
things, the coming consummation. "I^either shall 
there be any more cm'se." " And He that sat upon the 
throne said. Behold, I make all things new." Mankind 
shall be consolidated, and history shall be complete. 
I^ationalities, arriving here, shall not reassert themselves, 
in their effete traditions and withered superstitions. 
They shall be absorbed, so as to assert the common 
humanity, and wor.ship the one God. Sections, ficag- 
ments, factions, let them come, for all men will be 
merged in man. 

" And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multi- 



24 

tilde, and as the voice of many waters, and as tlie voice 
of mighty thuuderings, sajdng, Allelujah ! for the Lord 
God Omnipotent reigueth." 

The woman fleeing through the midst of earth into 
the wilderness, ever into the wilderness, — the poor, 
pilgrim, persecuted Church of Jesus Christ, the pioneer 
and pregnant kingdom of the living God, — keeps pace 
with the angel, flying through the midst of Heaven, 
having the everlasting Gospel to preach to all them that 
dwell upon the face of the earth ; — the fugitive, flitting 
Church heing no more than the shadow of her angelic 
prowess and promise, gliding through the skies. And, 
when that angel shall have made the circuit of the 
globe, and the everlasting Gospel shall have been 
preached to all the world, to every creature, then all 
the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our 
God, and the pilgTimage of Christianity shall reach rest 
and home. 

Have no restlessness. Practice no bigotries. Mouth 
no infidelities and inanities. Indulge no fears nor 
foolish policies. 

But make quite sure that when there shall be no 
need of Protestantism, and no possibility of Poperies, 
every time, of all " the times^" shall have its place, and 
the lowly Twelfth of July, A. D. 1871, will stand reg- 
istered in the balances of the ages, as an hour fraught 
with virtue, Avhile they who did duty then, heartily, as 
unto the Lord, and not unto men, shall stand com- 
mended, and enrolled among " the children of Issachar, 
which were men that had understanding of the times, 
to know what Israel ought to do." 



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